


Fireside

by NightysWolf



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Last Camp, Timeskip, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightysWolf/pseuds/NightysWolf
Summary: Ignis searches for some moments alone after the revelations at the camp fire but he isn't along for long...





	Fireside

They had spoken for a long time that night. About the past, about what was about to come on the next day... but they hadn’t spoken about the future. Too much uncertainty, too much insecurities... too much pain to even think about it. In the end, they had called it a night and had returned to the tent for one last time to be prepared for the battle that would decide everything.

Ignis Scientia had never needed as much sleep as his three companions and now he was lying awake in the tent, until they had fallen asleep before shaking his blanket loose and leaving the tent. The fire of the camp was still burning brightly and Ignis threw another log into it, to keep it going for a while longer. Wide awake, yet weary down to the bone, Ignis sat down near the fire onto the blank stone and took a deep breath.

They had spoken long what was about to come, but although Ignis knew that there was no other way, a part of him didn’t want to accept the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He knew the prophecy of the Cosmogony good enough, studied it long enough to know how this had to end, he had seen on the altar of the Tidemother how it was supposed to end... and yet a part of him was still hoping against hope, that he might find a way to change fate into a different line. A selfish part of him wanted the dawn never to come, the sun never to rise that what had to come, would never happen.

The royal advisor let out a low growl and took the frosted visor off his nose to rub his blind and tired eyes. Ignis couldn’t help but to remember little Talcott as he stood on the dock in the hidden harbor, telling Noctis to come back soon, cause they needed their king. That had been 10 years ago and yet the words were still true. This kingdom needed it’s king and yet they were going to loose him.

The rustling of the tent interrupted Ignis thoughts and he turned his head towards the sound. The sounds of the soft breaths told him at once who had left the tent and came over to him. “Can’t sleep?” Noctis asked his oldest friend before sitting down next to him, so close that their legs were nearly touching.

“Something like that,” Ignis replied softly, before taking up his visor again and to put it onto his scarred nose, but Noct stopped his movement in the middle of it.

“If you feel comfortable without it,” the young king said. “Leave it off. I want to see all of your face for once. Want to see how you’ve changed.” Ignis felt a soft warmth floating over the left side of his face and even though he had shut down all of his advanced senses to let them rest for a bit, he knew exactly what that warmth was. “May I?” Noct asked softly and Ignis nodded with a shaky breath. Soft fingers fell against the rough skin on Ignis left cheek and even though he didn’t want to, Scientia flinched at the touch. “Does it hurt?” The concern in the voice of his old friend was more than obvious.

“No,” Ignis replied in a whisper. “I’m just not used to anyone being so close to me.”

“No one?” Noctis asked and Ignis could hear a slight break in his voice.

The ghost of a smile appeared on the face of the advisor. “No one besides the obvious ones,” he replied. “Prompto, Gladio, Iris, the marshal and Aranea.”

Now it was Noct’s turn to chuckle softly. “Aranea?”

Ignis nodded while Noct’s fingers were still tracing the harsh edges of the scars in his face. “I wouldn’t be here without her. She and the marshal were the only ones who took me serious enough to train with me and to get me back into the field.”

Noctis let out a sigh. “You sacrificed so much for me and I don’t even know how to thank you.” The king cut his advisor off, when he tried to speak. “I know you swore and oath and all, but that oath never included loosing your vision and pushing yourself beyond all limits and I‘m sorry that it came to all this. That you had to give up so much to guide me on my way. ”

“And yet I won’t be able to uphold that oath, since I won’t be able to protect you... not this time,” Ignis whispered. „Besides, it was not that oath that kept me by your side all those years.“

„I know...“ Noct lifted his other hand and placed it atop Ignis’ heart, felt it beating against Ignis’ ribs and he fabric of the Kingsglaive-uniform. “Never let that heart stop beating for what is right, you hear? Never let doubts cloud your judgement. Never give up.” For a short moment Noct held his breath. “You got my back?”

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one before the release of Episode Ignis, which showed us a bit of a extension to the last campscene we are seeing in the main game, so don't mind that it's maybe not absolutely, exactly along the canon-line. The render can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nightyswolf/art/Fireside-716222767


End file.
